Yuugiteki Densetsu

Yuuden is the home for our dolls and the stories connected to them. The dolls are ball-jointed dolls (BJD). Unbelievably creepy, or else unbelievably beautiful depending on your point of view. We had seen BJD at conventions for years and thought they were lovely... And then when Akiko got her new job, she wanted to buy herself a doll... Li suggested she finally get her own BJD. So Akiko bought 2. And a couple months later 2 more... And another... Nine months later, Akiko finally convinced Li to purchase her dolls. Li bought 4 at once rather than waiting a couple months in between like Akiko did.

The BJD hobby is a great outlet for us to explore our sewing and cosplay - without the commitment to human sized pieces. Another major aspect of the hobby is the ability to explore photography, using the dolls as models for pictures. And finally, as is common in everything Akiko and Li do, are the storytelling inspirations we draw from their characters.

Yuugiteki Densetsu (Yuuden for short) translates as 'Playful Legend', and apt description of what we have created here. In this new creative venture, Akiko and Li have created (and are creating) a set of stories, a set of worlds. We are playing at creating legends.

It starts with Kestrel and Peregrine (if only because they were the first dolls purchased), two wood-elves who live in a Tolkin-esque sort of fantasy world... with our own sorts of twists. Their world is populated with fantasy staples like fairies, and strange creatures such as the tiny four-eared wood cat (which can have wings). Kestrel and Peregrine can cross dimensions into other worlds. Worlds like the Earth that we are familiar with. It is in such an Earth that Plum lives. But in Plum's Earth, the legends of our Earth are real. Mythological gods, demons, and creatures really do exist. In fact, Plum has a house demon, Nage. And she lives with the cat-demon Gai and the high elf Xenyth (who comes from the High Fantasy world of Kestrel and Peregrine).